New BD player for me??? Maybe....

[Hdale85]

Trying to decide if I should get a BD player. My options are these.

Sony BDP-S300
Samsung BD-P1200 <<has HQV video scaler?
Samsung BD-P1400 <<<I guess this one doesn't have HQV?
Pioneer BD-2202 BD-Rom drive for HTPC.

I'm not sure of the differences between the 2 sammy's are exactly I know the BD-P1400 decodes all the new audio formats while the BD-P1200 has HQV video processor and I'm not sure what video processor the BD-P1400 has. Just thought I would get your guys thoughts on these. I have a PC with an Xbox 360 HD-DVD rom drive so I already have HD playback on my PC just not sure I want to stick with that. Interested in hear what pros vs cons you guys have on these different players.

[PewterTA]

I'm waiting for the Samsung BD-UP5000 dual player. I (like yourself) have the Xbox 360 HD player, but no Blu-Ray player. I'm wanting a 7.1 analog out system for both of the formats and from all the reviews so far the Samsung player is worth the wait in almost every category.

I would say the only real difference with the samsungs is the 1400 has the 7.1 analog out if you're going to use it...otherwise it has all the same functionality of the 1200.

The Sony I've heard is a real nice picture, but it powers on and loads EXTREMELY slow compared to the samsung & pioneer.

I know the Pioneer Elite BD player is supposed to be about the best one out there...so the PC version I would hope is a fantastic player...?!

[Hdale85]

Well I just have a few issues with the PC based stuff. Not all the disc's will play. Like right now I think PowerDVD does not support BD+ um I can't play transformers on it. So there are issues. This is why I'm leaning twards the standalone players. The 1200 Doesn't do all the new audio formats according to samsungs website. Also according to their site the 1400 does not use the HQV which idk how important that is. On amazon the 1400 is actually slightly cheaper just haven't decided which features are more important to me. I'm really leaning away from the PC drive as with my latest problems playing them on the PC.

[Chris D]

Huh... I was just looking at Power DVD's site yesterday, and it looked like they did full BD and HD-DVD support. Check out www.cyberlink.com

[littlesaint]

If you're not getting a PS3, I'd wait for the 1.1 profile stuff to come out. The current hardware profile is a bit of a question mark down the road.

[Hdale85]

Well I think I'm going to get the internal BD drive for the HTPC. I found out that most of my problems with some of the HD-DVD's I have is because I don't have an HDCP video card. I currently use this software called AnyDVD HD and it strips the protection from the movie.

[bmowis]

Anybody on the market for an HTPC drive for HD stuff needs to check this out:

LG GGC-H20L

This internal drive is certified to read both BD and HD-DVD. NCIX.com was selling them this past week for ~$260 apiece. Pretty good deal.

Anyway, a dual HD drive for your HTPC for $260 is about as good as a price as you're going to find right now.

Cheers!

Brad

Edit: The following NCIX site is outdated, but it has pictures that the current NCIX page does not have:

NCIX.com

[Hdale85]

Wow I didn't know about that drive. It's almost the same cost as the pioneer BDC-2202 I think I'll pick one up.